1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,599 Speaker 1: Hey, y'all, Eve's here. We're doubling up today with two 2 00:00:02,640 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: events in history, one from me and one from former 3 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: host Tracy V. Wilson. On with the show Welcome to 4 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: this Day in History Class from how Stuff Works dot 5 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: Com and from the desk of Stuff You Missed in 6 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:17,040 Speaker 1: History Class. It's the show where we explore the past 7 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: one day at a time with a quick look at 8 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 1: what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 9 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's August. Vesuvius destroyed the 10 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum and other surrounding cities in 11 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 1: a volcanic eruption on this day in the year seventy nine. 12 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: Pompey was a really bustling ports city. It was very 13 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:45,479 Speaker 1: wealthy and elegant. It had a thriving wool industry. The 14 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: land was very conducive to sheep. It's also very conducive 15 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 1: to growing grapes. There were beautiful vineyards. All of this 16 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: wealth and affluence came because Pompeii was on incredibly rich soil, 17 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,640 Speaker 1: and the soil was incredibly rich as it was on 18 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: a volcano. The city was also home to a lot 19 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: of tourism, and some of that tourism was quite decadent. 20 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: When this eruption happened, about twenty thousand people were either 21 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,680 Speaker 1: living in the area or visiting. Leading up to this, though, 22 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: there had been some signs that maybe something was going 23 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: on with a volcano. There had been a significant earthquake 24 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:22,399 Speaker 1: about fifteen years before, there had been some changes to 25 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: the tides and to the waves on the ocean, and 26 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:29,039 Speaker 1: then on August the year seventy nine, the eruption sent 27 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: a massive plume of ash into the sky. This thing 28 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,280 Speaker 1: was so big that it could be seen for miles around. 29 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,319 Speaker 1: People could see it from really far away. It was 30 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,040 Speaker 1: so huge, though they couldn't tell which mountain it was 31 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: coming from. As this ash cool and it started to 32 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: fall on Pompeii and Herculaneum and these other cities, and 33 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: at first this was just a really fine ash fall. 34 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: Other material that was in there was mostly really light. 35 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 1: It was things like pummice, so it wasn't like giant, hard, 36 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 1: heavy boulders hitting people. People were frightened, but it wasn't 37 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: deadly yet, So at first people tried to evacuate, and 38 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: a lot of them were successful. But by night this 39 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,680 Speaker 1: ash fall became really dense and heavy, and what followed 40 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:16,239 Speaker 1: was a series of pyroclastic surges. This is when there's 41 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,799 Speaker 1: a giant surge of hot, often toxic gas and other 42 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,639 Speaker 1: material that ejects out from the volcano. One of these 43 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: pyroclastic surges hit Herculaneum and killed anyone who was still 44 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: there instantly, either melting or vaporizing their flesh, and both 45 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: of these cities and the other communities that were nearby 46 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 1: people died under the weight of the ash. Some of 47 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,799 Speaker 1: them were crushed inside their homes as the roofs caved in, 48 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: where they died of suffocation or asphyxiation outside. This is 49 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: a huge tragedy. Anyone who hadn't been able to flee 50 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,520 Speaker 1: early enough died, and the people who came back who 51 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: tried to find their homes are their family members instead 52 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,120 Speaker 1: found a layer of ash so thick that there was 53 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 1: nothing they could even get to. Eventually, though, all of 54 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,880 Speaker 1: this rich volcanic soil attracted people back to the area again. 55 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,160 Speaker 1: People basically lived on top of these buried cities for 56 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: about seventeen hundred years, and then in seventeen forty eight, 57 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:16,519 Speaker 1: the ruins of Pompeii were rediscovered, an organized dig started, 58 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 1: one of the first to use more modern principles of archaeology. 59 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:22,760 Speaker 1: Some of this was still pretty primitive, but there was 60 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 1: a more methodical excavation that followed a mapped out grid. 61 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: But even with methodical digging wasn't necessarily being done totally 62 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: for scientific study. A lot of people who were involved, 63 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: we're really trying to find a treasure to take home 64 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: for themselves. Archaeology at Pompeii and the surrounding cities has 65 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: been ongoing for a lot of the years since then. 66 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: There have been some pauses during things like World Wars. 67 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: Because homes were preserved and because the burying of the 68 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:56,480 Speaker 1: city was almost instantaneous, we get a huge sense of 69 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: what life was like in ancient Rome thanks to how 70 00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: well preserved so much of it is. This includes the buildings, 71 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 1: This includes the people who were in the buildings. That 72 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 1: includes a lot of graffiti. In seven it was named 73 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the ongoing excavations continue 74 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: to bring up interesting things. In one skeleton was found 75 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 1: that looked as though the person's skull had been crushed 76 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:25,080 Speaker 1: by a massive piece of debris. As they were trying 77 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 1: to flee. The Internet named these remains the World's Unluckiest Man. 78 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: But as researchers looked into it a little further, they 79 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: discovered that his upper body had fallen into a tunnel 80 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 1: that had been dug during those not quite as established 81 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: archaeological dig times of the seventeen hundreds or eighteen hundreds. 82 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: Probably this person died of asphyxiation while trying to escape, 83 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,119 Speaker 1: like a lot of other people did. Vesuvious, though still 84 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: an active volcano. Thanks to Tari Harrison for her audio 85 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:56,719 Speaker 1: skills in this podcast, and you can learn more about 86 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,839 Speaker 1: POMPEII on the October nineteenth, two thousand nine episode of 87 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: If You Miss in History Class. You can subscribe to 88 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, 89 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: and wherever else you get your podcasts, and you can 90 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: tune in tomorrow for a hoax that's pretty silly, even 91 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:23,840 Speaker 1: as hoaxes go. What's up, everyone, Welcome to This Day 92 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: in History Class, where we bring you a new tidbit 93 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: from history every day. The day was August nineteen seventy two. 94 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,320 Speaker 1: Dr Merlin K. Duval, Assistant Secretary of the U S 95 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:47,440 Speaker 1: Department of Health Education, and Welfare announced that there would 96 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: be an investigation into the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. The Tuskegee 97 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,479 Speaker 1: Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Mail, as it 98 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:00,960 Speaker 1: was called, began in nineteen thirty two. The U. S 99 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:04,640 Speaker 1: Public Health Service had joined with the Tuskegee Institute, a 100 00:06:04,760 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: historically black school in Alabama, to study the natural history 101 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:13,799 Speaker 1: of syphilis. At the time, syphilis and other sexually transmitted 102 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: infections were a major issue in the US. Large scale 103 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,839 Speaker 1: efforts to fight s t I s had been underway 104 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: since World War One, during which s t I S 105 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:28,159 Speaker 1: were a common cause for disability and absence from duty 106 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: in the army, but many people living in poverty in 107 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: rural areas still did not have access to treatment. When 108 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,280 Speaker 1: they did have access to medicine, they were often not 109 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: able to afford it. The Public Health Service and the 110 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: Julius Rosenwald Fund of Philanthropic Foundation collaborated in treating people 111 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:51,920 Speaker 1: with syphilis in the South in the late nineteen twenties 112 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:56,640 Speaker 1: and early nineteen thirties, but the Great Depression hit and 113 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty two the Fund pulled out of the 114 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: Tree Mint program, which had expanded to five states. The 115 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,920 Speaker 1: public Health Service did not have the resources to continue 116 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:12,360 Speaker 1: the program on its own, so instead of focusing on treatment, 117 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: the PHS decided to switch directions and study the effects 118 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:21,920 Speaker 1: of untreated syphilis on living people. Black people were widely 119 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: affected by syphilis, and researchers were studying racial differences in 120 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: the effects of the s t I. The PHS turned 121 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: to the Tuskegee Institute, known for its service in black communities, 122 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: for help in launching its new study. In exchange, the 123 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: PHS paid Tuskegee, trained its interns, and employed its nurses. 124 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:48,520 Speaker 1: The PHS also worked with black community leaders to encourage 125 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: participation in the study. Many people were willing to participate 126 00:07:53,040 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: since they had no access to medical care otherwise. On 127 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: top of that, participants got food and transportation, and family 128 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:05,240 Speaker 1: members got burial stipends. In the beginning, six hundred black 129 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: men were signed up for the study, three hundred and 130 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,480 Speaker 1: ninety nine with syphilis and two hundred and one who 131 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:13,720 Speaker 1: did not have syphilis. But the participants were not told 132 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: that they had syphilis. Instead, they were told that they 133 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: had bad blood, a catch all colloquialism that was used 134 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:26,440 Speaker 1: to describe several illnesses. The study was supposed to last 135 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: six months. Study participants were monitored, but they were only 136 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:35,640 Speaker 1: given placebos like aspirin. That was even the case after 137 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 1: the PHS began to give people with syphilis penicillin as 138 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,480 Speaker 1: treatment in nineteen forty three, and after penicillin became the 139 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:48,839 Speaker 1: recommended treatment for syphilis in nineteen forty seven, the researchers 140 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: wanted to track the full progression of syphilis, so they 141 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:57,480 Speaker 1: gave participants no effective care. Syphilis left untreated for many 142 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:03,640 Speaker 1: years can spread to the brain or i and caused paralysis, dementia, blindness, 143 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: and even death. Still, once local health departments began working 144 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:13,200 Speaker 1: with the PHS to track people who had left Macon County, Alabama, 145 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 1: they too kept study participants from receiving treatment. But in 146 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties, PHS employee Peter Buxton was an STI 147 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: interviewer and investigator, and he found out about the Tuskegee 148 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: Study and raised concerns about its ethics. But the Centers 149 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:36,400 Speaker 1: for Disease Control and Prevention, which controlled the study, determined 150 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: that the study needed to continue with the support of 151 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:45,920 Speaker 1: the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association. Officials 152 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:50,000 Speaker 1: wanted to see the study through until participants died and 153 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:55,120 Speaker 1: they analyzed all the data they collected. So Buxton leaked 154 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 1: the story, and in July of nineteen seventy two, Associated 155 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: Press reporter Jean Heller broke the story. The next month, 156 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,600 Speaker 1: it was announced that an ad hoc panel would investigate 157 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:11,599 Speaker 1: the study. The panel recommended ending the Tuskegee Experiment immediately, 158 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 1: and on November sixteen, Merlin Duval, Assistant Secretary of Health 159 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: in the U s Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 160 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: issued an administrative order shutting it down. By then, twenty 161 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: eight participants died from syphilis, a hundred others died from 162 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:33,839 Speaker 1: syphilis related complications. Forty spouses of participants had also been 163 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: diagnosed with syphilis, and the infection had been passed to 164 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:43,400 Speaker 1: nineteen children of the participants. In nineteen seventy three, Senator 165 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:48,080 Speaker 1: Edward Kennedy held Congressional subcommittee meetings that resulted in new 166 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: guidelines for working with human subjects and US government funded studies. 167 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:57,520 Speaker 1: That same year, a class action lawsuit was filed on 168 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,840 Speaker 1: behalf of the participants in their families. A ten million 169 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 1: dollar out of court settlement was reached in nineteen seventy four. 170 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:10,520 Speaker 1: The Tuskegee Health Benefit Program was created, and it began 171 00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:14,679 Speaker 1: providing lifetime medical benefits and burial services to living participants, 172 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,560 Speaker 1: two spouses of the living and deceased participants, and to 173 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: their children. The last study participant died in two thousand four. 174 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: The unethical experiment ignited a deep distrust in public health 175 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:34,360 Speaker 1: institutions among Black Americans. I'm Eave, Jeff Coote, and hopefully 176 00:11:34,400 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: you know a little more about history today than you 177 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: did yesterday. Keep up with us on Twitter, Instagram, and 178 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 1: Facebook at t d i h C podcast. Thanks for 179 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: joining me on this trip through time. See you here 180 00:11:51,360 --> 00:12:06,480 Speaker 1: in the exact same spot tomorrow. Yeah. For more podcasts 181 00:12:06,480 --> 00:12:09,439 Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 182 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:11,200 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.